Every new HIV case costs an estimated $390,000 in lifetime medical costs, much of which is paid for by the state. HIV cases are rising fastest among young gay and bisexual men (and particularly young African Americans and Latinos). Aren’t their lives worth $1 million?

Furthermore, Cook County currently boasts the highest number of gonorrhea cases of any county in the nation, and stands at number two for chlamydia and syphilis cases. This is but a fraction of the total number of sexually transmitted infection cases in the U.S. — 19 million every year — which accounts for an estimated $17 billion in medical costs.

Compared with spending billions for medical care, isn’t it more cost-effective to provide the tools that can bring improve outcomes and reduce and medical costs — and save lives? These are the very things the state is providing, like male and female condoms in different colors and sizes, along with lube in flavors other than “plain.” And doesn’t it make sense to provide HIV prevention tools that are appealing and — gasp — fun?

There are links in both stories which support their contentions.

* Free condom distribution has been going on for decades. The oddest thing about the Policy Institute’s story, however, was this…

One of the two successful bidders was a health care products company. The other? A Chicagoland construction company. A natural fit if ever there was one.

From their website:
===Prime Contracting:
All of JKC’s construction specialists come from a prime contracting background with over 24 years of experience each. Each project is assigned a project manager with responsibilities that include submittal tracking, owner / client relations, pay applications, safety, etc. Typical prime construction projects range from Water / Wastewater Facilities and midsize concrete structures to Parks and Recreational Facilities.===

The John Keno connection is even more curious when you notice that they are listed as 100% BEP. For your readers who might not know, the “BEP” is the Business Enterprise Program and is similar to the City’s M/WBE program — in other words it is designed to set-aside a portion of State contracts for minority- and women-owned businesses.

What is strange (to me at least) is that the State lists John Keno as a minority- and female-owned business (as well as a person with disability-owned business):

If that link doesn’t work, just search for them yourself on CMS’ website.

But if you go to the link Rich provided to the John Keno website, there is no mention of minorities (unless you count Italians!) or women running the company (although I guess daughters or granddaughters of the founder, Keno Vignocchi, could now be owners and in charge:

It is astounding the number of candidates and groups on the right that fight birth control measures in 2014. the abstinence wackos should be uncovered at every turn, put in the light of sunshine, and called out for their nonsense. It is absurd to fight prevention measure that help guard against disease and unwanted pregnancies.

It seems condoms are now like book matches used to be. Why in the world would anyone buy them when they give them away at the clip being reported. Hard to imagine any good excuse for someone who needs to, not using them.

–One would be a constitutional right, the other would be a discretionary government health program.–

And it’s an investment with a high ROI. I’m all for supplying free condoms (and birth control). While some don’t want to fund it, I think it makes a lot more economic sense than funding child care, medical costs, healthcare, aids, etc.

It’s perfectly legit to question the oddities of the contracts though and the lube… why are we funding the lube? That seems odd to me as well.

It seems condoms are now like book matches used to be. Why in the world would anyone buy them when they give them away at the clip being reported. Hard to imagine any good excuse for someone who needs to, not using them.

Agreed, but my point was simply that while on the surface the purchase of lube seems silly, there are some real health&safety concerns if it’s not used in certain circumstances.

I have no statistical proof to back this up, but I’m willing to bet a frosty adult beverage that the target audience for the free condoms and lube isn’t post-menapausal women. However great the need is.

That works out to a per item cost of 21 cents, a pretty great deal compared to retail prices, which, for some are actually a significant impediment to use. But, this is what we would expect from the IPI. It ignores science and math, looking at the world through it’s Ayn Randian lenses while, ironically, receiving succor from those who made their fortunes via industries that require science and math to exist and operate. And, “news” outlets like the Trib are always happy to provide legitimacy via articles and the op/ed page, regardless of IPI’s sizable roster of harebrained “analysts”.

What Amilia said. Kid, you got game on this one. The 2014 wacko war on contraception is beyond belief.

I’m sure it was a good day at IPI when they could gin up the Outrage Machine over some small-bore program related to nookie.

But their views sure ain’t conservative, unless they want to make the argument that there should be no public health program at all.

It might not be evident at the IPI offices, but most of humanity between certain ages has been blessed with a God-given libido that makes them seek to be fruitful and multiply.

And you can start with the Book of Genesis, go all the way through the Bible, comb world literature in your local libary, and pay attention to your life’s experience, and can see sometimes that leads to unintended consequences.

That’s just the way God wanted it.

Now, they’re free to make the argument that government should have no role at all in public health. Make your case.

But it they don’t, it’s clear that free condoms get you more bang for the buck, so to speak, than anything else.